A beggar in his early 30s approaches a motorist at Honeydew Spar, asking for change so he can buy himself something to eat. “Sorry, I don’t have any change,” says the motorist, and starts driving away.
“Please madam, I have a medical problem,” laments the beggar and lifts his shirt to show the motorist his stomach, an organ protruding from it, and attached is a colostomy bag.
Being asked for money by the less fortunate at traffic lights, parking lots and shopping centres after hearing any number of sob stories is nothing new, but when the a Caxton Joburg North West journalist came across this unusual story she decided to follow up and see what truth their was to the tale.
The beggar’s name is Alpheus Letwaba and he says he is from Zandspruit. Letwaba claims the organ is his left kidney and is as a result of a botched operation he underwent for kidney failure two years ago at Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital.
According to Letwaba he could not afford to pay for a second operation in which the organ would be inserted back into his abdomen.
Ever since he has roamed streets and shopping centres looking for food and donations, lifting up his shirt for anyone who is willing to look.
Retired medical expert from Steve Biko Academic Hospital, Lynette de Jager, is suspicious of this supposed kidney. “It looks more like a colostomy. The intestine definitely does not resemble a kidney, and looks more like an inflamed part of the colon, which would explain the colostomy bag,” said De Jager. “He does need to see a surgeon again because it looks like the colon has herniated.”
“What I find most strange,” stated De Jager, “is that that colostomy bags are very expensive, and have to be changed regularly. Someone must be doing that for him and supplying him with the bags.”
“I also don’t understand why those people aren’t doing anything about his colon, because the slightest infection can cause gangrene,” she continued. “And there is no way that it could possibly stay uninfected for that long.”
Letwaba provided the Northsider with a contact number of a family member, should anyone wish to assist him. But the family member, who prefers not to be named, told a different story. According to her Letwaba lives in Orlando East, Soweto, and it was not kidney failure that caused his ailment.
“After high school he became involved with the wrong crowd, committing car thefts and hi-jackings,” said the family member. “He was shot while attempting to hi-jack a car five years ago, he was then treated at Helen Joseph Hospital.” Treatment could not continue however, because Letwaba did not have an ID document, and refused to apply for one when social workers from the hospital tried to assist him.
